Skip to main content
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation (Sticky)

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
  • Current Issue
  • Subscribe to Naval History
    • Naval History Digital Subscription
    • Renew Your Subscription
  • Submisison Guidelines
  • Contact Naval History
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues
Pieces of the Past

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
  • Current Issue
  • Subscribe to Naval History
    • Naval History Digital Subscription
    • Renew Your Subscription
  • Submisison Guidelines
  • Contact Naval History
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues

Pieces of the Past

By Eric Mills
June 2020
Naval History
Pieces of the Past
View Issue
Comments
Body

In a springtime gripped by a sense of catastrophe, a collection of artifacts has come to our attention that awakens memories of another springtime long ago and another catastrophe—though on a vastly smaller human scale. It was on 6 May 1937 that the airship Hindenburg, the world’s largest dirigible, went crashing to her fiery end at Manchester Township, New Jersey. And in the funeral pyre of her wreckage one could sense it was not just the death of the mighty Hindenburg, but the age of the zeppelin as well. Airships would live on in increasingly diminished roles, but the days when these Jules Verne–esque behemoths ruled the skies clearly were passing. Like many technological periods that rise only to fade away, the zeppelin era left behind a host of memories—and relics.

The collection of such airship memorabilia is a rarefied pursuit, but indeed a fascinating one. And these random samples from the golden age of inflatable aircraft, from the collection of Thomas A. Norris, hark back to the opening decades of an earlier century that, like our own, seemed brimming with promise but fraught with perils.

Pieces of the Past

The flag is the sole survivor of another airship that met her demise while in flight—the German Navy zeppelin L5, factory number LZ-28. (The photo below, of the similarly designed German army zeppelin LZ-29, shows what L5 looked like.) The mere existence of the tattered ensign is a testament to the indefatigable grit of her crew. Built at Friedrichshafen, L5 made her maiden run on 22 September 1914, less than two months after the opening salvos of World War I. She minehunted in the Baltic, carried out bombing raids, and flew 47 reconnaissance missions before her ultimate date with fate. On 6 August 1915, she was fatally crippled by Russian artillery fire. The crew managed to coast her down in a heavy forced landing. Beyond salvaging, L5 was scrapped, but the airshipmen had managed to save her flag. And somehow, across many years, passing through many hands, it has survived to this day.

The crew’s courage and determination also must have been evident in their fellow airshipman, Luftschiffer Friedrich Paul Martin Dietrich, whose photo and service papers are shown here, along with the Iron Cross he earned while in the service of the Kaiser. Dietrich’s medal is an Iron Cross First Class—distinguishable by its pin clasp (as opposed to a ribbon) and the wearing of it on the left side of the tunic, as seen in the photo. Researcher-collector Michael M. Hasco, previous owner of the items, ran into dead ends in his effort to track down the identity of the airship in which Dietrich served.

Those airships are gone. But the indomitable spirit that garners medals, and sees badly damaged ships to a safe landing when all seems lost, lives on. Fortunately, for all of us, some of it lives in each of us, and it will never die.

Eric Mills

Eric Mills is the author of Chesapeake Bay in the Civil War and Chesapeake Rumrunners of the Roaring Twenties. His articles have appeared in Naval History, Proceedings, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, and other publications. He lives near Easton, MD.

More Stories From This Author View Biography

Related Articles

DZR helmet
Article

Rare German Helmet from Hindenburg Ground Crew

By Scot Christenson
June 2024
Several extremely rare items associated with the Hindenburg from the collection of Tom Norris
Edison Record #5078 Vernon Dalhart: The Wreck of the Shenandoah
NH Pieces of the Past

Pieces of the Past

By Eric Mills
June 2019
When the USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) crashed in Ohio on 3 September 1925, the tragedy inspired a song—and created a moment when U.S. naval history and American folk-music trends converged.
USS Long Angeles
Article

Bring Back the Dirigibles, Maintain the Undersea Advantage

By Lieutenant Jonathan Z. French, U.S. Navy
April 2023
America’s long-range theater antisubmarine-warfare mission can be asymmetrically enhanced by the resurrection of the U.S. Navy’s airship program.

Quicklinks

Footer menu

  • About the Naval Institute
  • Books & Press
  • Naval History
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Oral Histories
  • Events
  • Naval Institute Foundation
  • Photos & Historical Prints
  • Advertise With Us
  • Naval Institute Archives

Receive the Newsletter

Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations.

Sign Up Now
Example NewsletterPrivacy Policy
USNI Logo White
Copyright © 2025 U.S. Naval Institute Privacy PolicyTerms of UseContact UsAdvertise With UsFAQContent LicenseMedia Inquiries
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
×

You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Naval History this month.

Non-subscribers can read five free Naval History articles per month. Subscribe now and never hit a limit.